|
It has always been the mission of Oöna
Health to empower women with the knowledge and the products
to maintain their wellness and to provide herbal solutions
that deliver on their promises. While Oona’s Fertility
Health Boost certainly maintains that focus, how it came to
be is more of a personal story.
About 2 ½ years before the first
Oöna product was launched in 2001, founder Valerie Otto
discovered the value of women’s herbs and began taking
them regularly. As life would have it, after taking
some unsuspected twists and turns, at the beginning of 2005,
at the age of 44, she decided to be a mother.
Intra Uterine Insemination (IUI) is usually
done at a fertility clinic which is where Valerie went to
begin her quest to have a baby. Upon examination and conference,
she was advised that she should begin some sort of medical
fertility treatment “right now” – even though
all of her hormone levels looked fine for a woman wanting
to conceive. Because of her age, the MD explained that
she had a 15% chance of getting pregnant in the first year,
and by the end of the following year it would drop to close
to 0%.
Reading about women’s health is what
Valerie does for a living and she didn’t feel that the
medical approach , In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), was the place
to begin for her. “It’s not that I ruled
anything out,” says Valerie, “it’s just
that I wanted to trust my body. I have no medical conditions
that would obstruct conception and I had been tracking ovulation
for more than a few months. I couldn’t immediately embark
on such a stressful medical regime that I had serious doubts
about. I decided I would take this as it came.”
“I have to say, even going to the
clinic to get inseminated was stressful. In the waiting
room were women who couldn’t sit down from all the painful
fertility shots. I would overhear them crying to the
nurses. Others were filled with exasperated hope at
where they were with their treatment. It was heartbreaking.
When the nurses entered my examination room, the first question
was about my shot – to which I repeatedly replied, ‘natural
cycle.’ They looked at my chart, my age and gave
me the ‘you’ve got a snowball’s chance in
hell’ look. They did always comment that I had
good cervical fluid but I felt this was to boost my spirits
or cover up their doubts. It didn’t feel supportive.”
After five attempts, Valerie opted to add
acupuncture and Chinese herbs. “A lot of women are not
aware that for ‘unexplained infertility’ acupuncture
and herbs have the same if not better success rate than IVF,”
said Valerie. “I had been taking Oöna, our
black cohosh and chaste tree berry product for menopause,
for years and then switched to our PMS1 product, also a combination
of black cohosh and chaste tree berry. I had also taken
a number of other supplemental vitamins and plenty of Omega
3’s.” The acupuncturist suggested that Valerie
take a Chinese herbal formula in addition to her vitamins
but that the Oöna PMS1 would be redundant. “I
didn’t believe it was redundant, so I kept taking it,”
she said. The Chinese herbal formula cost $350 a month.
“You get caught in this trap, I totally see how it crazy
it can get and I didn’t even do that much.” Valerie
quips.
On her lucky seventh try, after two months
of acupuncture and the Chinese herbal formula, Valerie was
pregnant with a baby girl. “I shocked the fertility
clinic. During the initial sonograms, I kept telling
the nurses to inform women about acupuncture and herbs, but
it was obviously falling on deaf ears. While not surprised,
I was disappointed”
Oona’s Fertility Health Boost came
out of Valerie’s own pregnancy quest. “I do feel
that the Chinese herbal formula was helpful. But after researching
the herbs that were in the one I took, I uncovered the basis
for the formula that provided the most overall benefit.”
That basis comes from a traditional Chinese herbal tonic called
Si Wu Tang. This tonic, which is especially
good for women, uses dong quai as its principal herb along
with white peony, rehmania and ligusticum.
Oona Health updated Si Wu Tang
by replacing ligusticum with false unicorn root. “I
found concerning the possible toxicity issues associated with
ligusticum,” said Valerie. “In talking with
several herbalist and scientists, it was decided that false
unicorn would be a better addition.” It is an
excellent restorative for the female reproductive system and
particularly known to help maintain and tone the posture of
the uterus and bladder. It also has energenic properties
and is used for despondency associated with the menstrual
cycle. “It’s also a great complement to the hormone
modulator, especially chaste tree berry,” she adds.
The hormone modulator Valerie is referring
to is chaste tree berry and black cohosh which is included
in Oöna’s Fertility Health Boost. Ovulation
occurs as a result of the brain (the pituitary) relating messages
to the ovaries. This simple formulation in effect helps the
pituitary communicate better. Chaste tree has a long
history of use to regulate the menstrual cycle.
“I then analyzed most of the prescription
prenatal vitamins as well as all the women’s vitamins
available on the market,” says Valerie. “Women
really need ample amounts of B-Complex, antioxidants C and
E as well as Calcium for optimal preconception health.
I wanted to make sure that these were in our product.
In the end, Oona’s Fertility Health
Boost provides women with Valerie’s research and experience
in just one packet per day. “I know it works,”
sums up Otto. “At 46 I delivered my beautiful
baby girl by a necessary cesarian. The first thing the
doctor said was ‘She’s beautiful’, the second
was ‘My Gosh, you have the insides of a 20 year old!’”,
to which I replied, “That’s all that matters.”
“I have now switched to Oona’s
Fertility Health Boost even though I’m not trying to get
pregnant,” said Valerie. “It’s just
a great overall regime to keep a woman’s body toned on
the inside. I only add Omega 3’s.”
For more information, please see:
|
